UX process

DESIGN THINKING METHODOLOGY

Design thinking helps to solve business challenges by better understanding
users’ needs in order to design products that they actually want to use.
By following these five steps, we can effectively understand and define
the problem, discover opportunities, explore many possible solutions, and
build the right product through testing and reiterating the design.

Empathise

Understand the end user through observation, interaction and immersing yourself in their experiences.

Define

Analyse the insights from the empathy work to address the user’s needs in your design.

Ideate

Explore many possible solutions by thinking big and working with others.

Prototype

Transform an idea into interactive mockups to experience it, learn from it, and develop more empathy for the user.

Test

Evaluate the product by observing how users interact with the prototype. Learn, reiterate, repeat.

RESEARCH & STRATEGY

A project starts by understanding the business needs through stakeholder
interviews. I then define the research goals and plan user interviews,
before heading out into the world with active listening skills to gather
qualitative data. These key insights are used along with metric data and
competitor analysis to make informed decisions about potential solutions.

Interview script notes

DOCUMENTATION

Communicating the pain-points and goals of the users with stakeholders and
the team is essential. Delivering precise and accurate documentation
visualises the journey, research outcomes, information architecture and
process flows, which allows complex problems to be understood and
solutions to materialise.

Persona, User Flow sketch

User Research Report

User Flow Diagram

SKETCHING & WIREFRAMES

Designing starts with pen and paper. I usually fill pages of my sketchbook
with notes and wireframe sketches, working through the problems until I’ve
arrived at the best solution. Even better is when this can be done with
teams through co-creation workshops.

Wireframe sketches

PROTOTYPING & USABILITY TESTING

Beginning a cycle of design iterations, the “solution” is transformed into
prototypes - ideally starting with a simple paper version, and increasing
fidelity until it becomes a working, interactive mockup using Sketch or
Photoshop with software like InVision or Axure. Through usability testing
I can observe how users interact with the prototype, note what works and
what doesn’t, and reiterate the design as necessary, always bearing in
mind the initial problem statement.

Invision prototype

Prototype screen

BUILD

Testing with a prototype saves money and time. When the interactions are
resolved and making sense, the project moves into visual design. I use
Sketch or Photoshop to create beautiful user interfaces that are
responsive, engaging, and satisfy user needs and business objectives.